There are no atheists in a foxhole...

The last game I played of Flames of War involved attacking prepared positions, with the defenders starting dug in. Normally when you move out of foxholes, the dug in marker is removed and the foxholes vanish (much like my tax return). The one exception to this is when you counterattack out of foxholes. You may retreat back into them. While it doesn't specifically say so, the folks I play with decided that means you return back to your position prior to the assault. That means there should be some way to mark the holes position.

At first I came up with some markers that I cleverly labeled "Foxholes". I thought the marker lacked something. So I thought about doing a 3D version. I had tried in the past to make markers out of liquitex resin sand, but they took a long time and were costly (the resin sand isn't cheap!).

Next I tried some felt markers... they weren't a whole lot better then my paper foxhole markers.

Then I tried some rubber railroad road bed. It was easy to cut, but only came in black (grey-black). I found you could paint, glue sand or flock them and they looked ok. This was more work than I wanted to do, however.

The final iteration was to use brown cork model railroad road bed. It has the apperance of upturned earth & sand from the beginning. All I have to do is cut them out and bevel the side edges. I knocked about 20 medium base sized foxholes in a couple of hours. No painting, just cut to size, bevel the edges and you are ready to go. The look great too!



I am gonna make some more tonight!

Tim, they call him...

One if by land, and two if by sea;

"One if by land, and two if by sea;
And I on the opposite shore will be..."

Ok... how many if by glider?

I have been working on my British Airlanding company some more.

My progress so far:

• Airlanding platoons (4) are all primed and have the flesh painted.
• 6 pdr AT guns (8) are assembled; primed and base coated (Russian Uniform).
• AT crew cleaned and glued to painting sticks
• 75mm pack howitzers (4) are assembled; primed and base coated (Russian Uniform).
• Royal Artillery crew cleaned and glued to painting sticks
• Sniper teams (3), Light Mortar teams (4), PIAT teams (6) & Pathfinder team (1) are primed, basecoated, based and bases textured.
• Mortar section cleaned and glued to painting sticks (Observers based and bases textured)
• MG Section cleaned, based and bases textured.
• Two Objectives have been built and mounted on a textured base.
  

I have the British Airborne Command on order. It contains some seated airborne troops & drivers as well as the staff, observers and the command team for the Royal Artillery.

On the bases, I am taking extra care with these guys... trying to hide the figure bases with Liquatex sand/resin stuff. I want to work out a different set of colors for the actual base color. Something darker and richer than what I am using now.

That's all for now...

Tim, they call him...

Patriots & Loyalists FAQ

I found these on a PAL yahoo group (that happens to have Scott Holder on it). Unfortunately the group is not really active. The first one is a question I asked.

Q: Under the section Artillery Falling Back (7.5, last paragraph), it says, "...If the unit is artillery, the stand with crew falls back 7" facing the enemy and leaving the artillery piece. Artillery crews having fallen back are not considered in rally formation and may move during their next turn as if in infantry column..." Does this mean that artillery crew in effect 'auto-rally'?

A: Yes - They are allowed to rally automatically as artillery crew do not need to form up like infantry or cavalry.


Q: A unit in line makes contact with a unit in column or a limbered artillery battery. What happens?

A: This situation refers to an Active unit in line moving to contact with either a unit in column or limbered artillery battery. If the Active unit is in column, it cannot into contact. Once the unit makes contact, all movement for the Active unit just making contact is stopped and melee then takes place during the Melee Phase. Don't forget that a unit in column halves its Melee Level. When contacting a limbered artillery battery, again, movement stops for the Active unit and melee takes place during the Melee Phase. In this case, don't draw any Melee Cards. Instead, the artillery battery immediately retreats (as if it were unlimbered) taking the artillery piece with it and it takes a permanent marker.


Q: Isn't skirmish formation too tough? Being in skirmish raises a regiment's morale 10% without lowering firing potential of the unit; is this intentional?

A: Yes. Keep in mind that most units can't skirmish and you could certainly limit it in any given scenario (not all militia "skirmished" in what we could consider a trained tactical formation). Now units like British Converged Lights or the Queen's Rangers that start with 80% morale and can skirmish are certainly tough units to beat.


Q: Are the number of stands a unit fires reduced for each permanent morale marker it takes?

A: No.

"Well, as you know, I always felt we tried to go a bridge too far" - Gen. Browning

I have found something interesting out this past week. It is very satisfying to work on two very opposite projects at the same time. I have been spending a lot of time working on my AWI cavalry and light infantry. When I find them frustrating or boring...I just switch back to my Brit' Airlanding company

It means nothing gets completed fast...but I don't reach those 'blocks' I used to... at least so far.

So for my MW Airlanding Company:

• The four Airlanding platoons are cleaned, glued to painting sticks, primed and base coated flesh; next comes flesh wash and highlighting.
• The MG platoon is cleaned, based and the bases textured; next step is priming.
• The Mortar platoon is cleaned and glued to painting sticks; next step is priming.
• The Airlanding artillery platoon has been cleaned, guns assembled, crews glued to painting sticks; next step is priming.
• One A/T platoon is cleaned and assembled; next step is gluing to paintsticks and priming
• The other A/T platoon is still in the blisters.

I have a fifth Airlanding platoon in a blister. I plan on using the extra figures for the artillery command and staff team and perhaps a platoon of Royal Engineers (flamethrowers).

I will work some more on my Brit's when I get home tonight.

Tim, they call him...

A horse! a horse! my kingdom for a horse! - Richard III

Progress!

I have sorted out what I have and what I 'need'. I need nothing...what I want however...

Back to what I have:

14 British Legion Cavalry

14 Colonial 3rd Dragoons

35+ light infantry

The fate of the cavalry is self-explanatory... The light infantry on the other hand... 15 will be painted as Legion light infantry. 15 will be painted as miscellaneous Colonial light infantry. The remaining 15 were originally a dilemma. I think the solution is to paint them as the British 16th Regiment of foot dragoons.

Cavalry

So far I have both sets of horses primed, standed and the first highlight coat painted. Tarleton's dragoons are glued to painting sticks and primed. The Colonials are cleaned waiting to be primed.

Infantry
All the light infantry has been cleaned; glued to painting sticks and primed.

Artillery

I have all the guns (2 x 12pdr, 3 x 8pdr & 1 howitzer) cleaned, assembled and primed. I have the crew mounted on two man stands with a number of singles with rare earth magnets in their bases. That allows me to add the odd man to make three crew out of two. These are all primed on their bases, but I might just glue the singles to small stands (which I happen to have) though I do like the 'gimmick' of the magnets. Time will tell. I want to find a 'neutral' way to paint the gunners so they will look fine as either Brit's or Colonials.

Tim, they call him

Partiots and Loyalists, Redux

After last night's game, I re-read through the rules and found a number of mistakes. Before anyone comments I would like you to review your copy and then we can discuss it.

Artillery Falling Back (7.5, last paragraph)
"...If the unit is artillery, the stand with crew falls back 7" facing the enemy and leaving the artillery piece. Artillery crews having fallen back are not considered in rally formation and may move during their next turn as if in infantry column..."

Does this mean that artillery crew don't have to rally and can return to their guns next turn? Or when they rally the don't bother with formations but move like infantry in column? I think the later is correct. Edited 04/15/2009 - It turns out that artillery crew rally automatically and move next turn as if infantry in column

NCO Risk (7.6.1)
The NCO risk is calculated by subtracting the number of points the NCO provided (20 max) for the test from 100. E.g. the risk is directly proportional to the aid the NCO provided. The higest risk he would have to roll under is 100% - 20% = 80%. We were rolling for it as if equal to the risk to the unit.

Actions/Reactions & Prempting and Reacting(8.1; 8.2.8; 8.2.9; examples 8.5-7; 17)
If the active side has two action points per unit, his opponent my attempt to preempt or react. No preemption or reaction is possible if the active player has three or more action points per unit. This is not explicitly denied for three plus action points per unit, however it is explicitly allowed ONLY If the active side has two action points per unit.

Depleted Ammunition Supply (15.10.2)
We should be using this rule. It limits the artillery to 6, 8 or 10 rounds per game.

FIRING

Ranges (15.6)
"All ranges are measured from the center of the eligible group of firing stands to the nearest point of the target unit"

Arc of Fire (15.7)
The firing arc extends 30 degrees from the ends ot each of the firing units stands (Figure 12).

Friendly Fire (15.9)
Artillery batteries whose LOS passes close to friendly units may accidently hit those units instead of the target (Figure 14).

MORALE

Unit Morale (7.5)
When testing for unit morale we never applied the first modifier:
-10% for each permananent marker already on the unit (-5% if French infantry)

(General) Officers and Morale (7.6)
General Officers (Brigade Commanders & C-in-C) may influence brigade and unit morale tests.

To influence brigade morale tests the General Officer expends Leadership points up the amount of the officer's "Assist Bonus". These points are permanently expended regardless of the results of the test.

To influence a unit morale test the General Officer must attach itself to the unit. He may contribute 1-30%. No Leadership points are expended when a General Officer assists in a unit morale test.

Other thoughts...

We should go back to the listed movement, rounding up removes the reason for going into column and the speed advantage of light infantry.

That is all for now...

Tim, they call him...

Patriots and Loyalists

Went and played Patriots & Loyalists (PAL) last night. I really like the game. It is one of those that things seem to work out the way they should. We had a great game and the Colonials won! This has inspired me even more to get my AWI painted.

Looking over the rules, the British Legion was a mixed unit of cavalry (dragoons) and infantry. Four stands of infantry, plus command makes up the foot component (5 x 3 = 15 figures). The cavalry consists of six stands plus command for a total of seven stands (7 x 2 = 14 figures). I have 32 foot, so I can easily do two units of infantry (many of the dragoons mimicked the Legion's organization. If I can work it out I will also build the British 17th Light Dragoons (the Death or Glory Boys). Their red coats will make a nice contrast to Tarelton's green.

The Colonial Cavalry will model the 3rd Regiment of Dragoons. I have picked them (as well as the Brit units) because they fought at Cowpens...and if I am not mistaken, Guilford Courthouse. If nothing else it gives me an excuse to have the units face off against each other.

So I have all the infantry cleaned up and on popsicle sticks. I will prime them tonight and will give them a shot at painting later in the week. I will get the Colonial Dragoons ready for priming tonight as well. The only down side is I had cleaned and primed the Legion Cavalry when I first purchased them. They seem to be AWOL at the moment...but I will track them down over the weekend if must be.

Edited - I found them later that night, first place I looked too!

Tim, they call him...